The garden at Lantern Hill is the centrepiece of a 700 acre grazing property, where stud Herefords graze alongside Cashmere goats. A country garden perched upon one of the highest points of the picturesque Southern Highlands, commanding extensive views across the rolling hills of the surrounding countryside.
We purchased Lantern Hill at Exeter in 1980 to breed Hereford cattle and today have a successful Hereford stud. I was first attracted to the property by its gracious white weatherboard homestead, nestled into a vast expanse of green lawn, tall shade trees and low stone walls forming an architectural framework from the paddocks beyond. The fascinating rock walls are made from basalt rocks found on the property. These days the walls are essentially covered with pink and white rambling roses, Dorothy Perkins and Sanders White, creating a magnificent display in early summer.
From the main entrance we travel a kilometre, up a dirt road, past cattle and goats grazing in the adjoining paddocks. The welcoming white gates invite the visitor down a conifer-lined gravel drive into a spacious garden of herbaceous plantings and mature trees, both deciduous and evergreen. Edging the parking area, a hedge of 60 Hebe (Hebe x Andersonii) forms a sweeping curve defining the gravel from the lawn and carries the eve to the long border containing a mixture of large shade trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs. This extensive flowering border full of herbaceous plants and deciduous trees sparkle with red and gold in autumn, then lose their leaves. The bare branches form a winter tracery to the endless vistas beyond.
Springtime sees the awakening of the garden, Flowering Cherries (Mauls ionises) arc a spectacular sight in full bloom. Masses of' bulbs, Daffodils and Narcissus, Azaleas, Magnolias and later Rhododendrons, Cistus, Lilac and Iris – all mingle together to form a beautiful palette of colour. As summer approaches the Iceberg roses and Japanese Wildflowers add to the overall design.
Over a period of years Lantern Hill garden has developed into a garden full of interest. It has given me much needed peaceful therapy during stressful periods. Together with Murray, my knowledgeable and diligent gardener, we have worked to develop what could be called "a garden of cameos".
A Parterre – my little piece of Italian Renaissance – is edged with clipped Lonicera Xiiida, Gravel paths divide the beds of blue viola and double white Candytuft. To ensure a sense of balance three classical urns and a teak bench are placed to give a touch of elegance.
A lych gate area where Sparies Hoop roses climb over lattice walls in harmony with the rose Lorraine Lee. Through the gate a box hedge (Buxus semperviens) flanks a pathway leading to a standard Renae rose and passes through a copse of Silver Birch, a border of unusual perennials and walls covered by Boston Ivy.
An alpine garden and walkway has been created on a natural rocky outcrop featuring low dwarf and slow growing perennials suitable to the cool Highland climate and acid soils of this district.
A Weeping Elm (Ulmus gelabra) stands aloft and catches the eye in an expanse of lawn.
A bed of Heritage roses containing standards such as Financial Times, Mary Rose and Madame Gregorie Staechelin, Meg and Madame Alfred Carriere on pyramid supports is underplanted with a multi-coloured carpet of Nemesia, Violas, Evening Primroses and Dianthus. Close by, crushed red granite has been used as a carpet where a bench and table invite visitors to sit and enjoy the vista.
A Cherry laurel hedge (Prusus lauro cerasus) leads to a pergola of roses. To the right of this are Agapanthus and to the left another pergola contains various perennials and three splendid standard Sea Foam roses. Conifers of various types such as Bhutan Cypress (Cupressus Torulosa) (Cupressus ocyparis leylandii), swamp Cypress (Taxodium distichum), Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia) and Pinus Radiata line the driveway and grow majestically in the spinney, edge the boundaries and occasionally make an accent throughout this spacious garden.
The Lantern Hill home is somewhat unusual - from every room in the house one can capture the various garden angles. Whether wet or fine, grey or sunny, the views outside come inside and one can contemplate new ideas. A garden is never really finished; it grows and changes with improvements no matter how slowly, thus taking on a depth of character far exceeding fantastic plantings of any instant garden.
The relaxation and pleasure from an ever changing picture, never taken in at one glance, has to be actively explored, week by week, month by month to discover all its treasures. Truly "a garden for all seasons".
Lantern Hill is a member of The Gardens of the Southern Highlands Group and The Australian Open Gardens Scheme.
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